Henry Shrady

Henry Merwin Shrady (October 12, 1871 – April 12, 1922)cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=940CE0DF1739EF3ABC4B52DFB2668389639EDE&oref=slogin |format=PDF |title=Henry M. Shrady, Sculptor, Dies |work=The New York Times |date=April 13, 1922] was the sculptor of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Shrady was born in New York City. His father, George Shrady, was one of the physicians who attended former president Ulysses S. Grant during the struggle with throat cancer that led to his death on July 23, 1885.

Shrady graduated from Columbia University in 1894 and spent one year thereafter at Columbia's law school. He left law school to join with his brother-in-law, Jay Gould (son of millionaire Edwin Gould, the financier), at the Continental Match Company. The company failed and Shrady contracted typhoid fever which diverted him forever from the business world. His recuperation left spare time to pursue a growing interest in art.

Shrady's wife, Harrie Moore, submitted some of his paintings to an exhibition of the National Academy of Design without his knowledge and they sold quickly. He then began to teach himself sculpture using zoo animals and his pets as models.

Shrady and architect William Casey Pearce won the competition to build the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in 1902. In the twelve years Shrady spent executing the memorial, he studied biology at the American Museum of Natural History and dissected horses to gain a better understanding of animal anatomy. The memorial was dedicated in 1922, a few weeks after Shrady's death. The Grant Memorial is described as "one of the must important sculptures in Washington" by James M. Goode in "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C."

Works

* "Ulysses S. Grant Memorial", equestrian, in front of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C, completed in 1920.
*"George Washington at Valley Forge", equestrian, Brooklyn, New York
* "General Alpheus S. Williams Memorial", equestrian, Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan
* "Robert E. Lee", equestrian, Charlottesville, Virginia, finished by Leo Lentelli following Shrady's death

References

* Nawrocki, Dennis Alan and Thomas J. Holleman, "Art in Detroit Public Places", Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1980
* Opitz, Glenn B , Editor, "Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers", Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986
* Taft, Lorado, "The History of American Sculpture", MacMillan Co., New York, NY, 1925